How ITS can get a boost from 5G

Needless to say, ITS or intelligent transportation system has become a major phenomenon across the globe. At its core, ITS makes use of data transmitted between different sensors. In this regard, data transmission can be enhanced with 5G, which stresses fast speed, low latency and trusted identities.

It goes out saying that cities are now turning to ITS to solve various transportation issues, for example congestion and illegal parking. With more people living in cities and buying cars, ITS will only see a rise in demand down the road.

It’s important to note that ITS is an umbrella term which includes various subcategories. Advanced traffic management systems, for example, employs roadside sensors and CCTV cameras to detect traffic flow; upon congestion additional traffic lanes could be opened or traffic signal adjusted. Electronic toll collection aims to reduce highway congestion by collecting tolls electronically rather than manually. In Singapore which is a world leader in ITS, electronic road pricing is used to charge vehicles a toll on certain roads during certain times of the day to keep traffic smooth.

At the core of ITS is the transmission of data between vehicles and vehicles or between sensors and traffic monitoring centers. Transmitting these data in a fast, uninterrupted and secure way therefore is critical.

In this regard, 5G, which is either being trialed or going through the initial stage of commercialization in different regions in the world, presents itself as a viable solution. In particular, 5G delivers speeds of up to 2 Gb/s, enabling the download of a full HD movie in seconds. Yet with its wide bandwidth, 5G hungers for applications other than consumer use cases. These may include: smart city, Industry 4.0 as well as intelligent transportation.

That said, below are some of the ways in which ITS can get a boost from 5G.

Vehicle to infrastructure (V2I)

V2X or vehicle-to-everything has become a popular concept that is expected to see increased deployment in the near term. Among the different V2X technologies, V2I or vehicle-to-infrastructure is pretty major and has various interesting applications. These include smart traffic lights, which can adjust the length of red and green light based on interactions between vehicles and the traffic light. Another useful application of V2I is smart parking, whereby the road infrastructure can interact with the vehicle to let the driver know about available parking as well as other information. In either scenario, 5G can play a significant role in reliable delivery of data.

Vehicle to vehicle (V2V)

According to a blogpost by Gemalto, 5G will enable direct communication from vehicle to vehicle, without passing through the network, to prevent traffic congestion and delays. “Autonomous vehicles are capable of alerting others of change of conditions, such as collisions, weather, road incidents,” the post said. “This allows autonomous vehicle to drive close to each other in what is called ‘platoons’ of vehicles going in the same direction at a given time achieving an optimization of the traffic, while increasing the safety on the road.”

Multimodal transportation

It’s increasingly common to see citizens transferring from a shared bike to a bus/train service when going to work, for example. “The challenge lays in making a smooth transition from one mode of transport to another and making sure that registration and payment is as seamless and secure as possible. All this relates to the management of digital identities across the different systems and providers, which is currently handled separately,” the post said, adding that 5G and the trusted digital identity technology it employs can effectively solve this challenge.